


One Way To Heal

by anysin



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Evil Wins, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Older Dipper Pines, Post-Apocalypse, Uncle/Nephew Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 21:11:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12944001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anysin/pseuds/anysin
Summary: Bill and his cronies leave Earth, taking Ford with them. Stan tries to deal, Dipper tries to help.





	One Way To Heal

Eventually, Bill gets bored of Earth and leaves. He takes Ford with him.

Fearamid still floats above Gravity Falls, empty and abandoned. Stan goes to it every now and then, just to look at it; if he really wanted to, he could find a way to climb in there, but he knows there is no point. There is no way to contact Bill, no survivors to rescue. The whole thing is just a memorial now, to the day when everything went hopelessly wrong.

To the day Ford made a deal with Bill, saving Stan and the kids, but sacrificing everything else.

Every day, Stan wants to curse him for it. He never can; he just misses him.

*

Dipper and Mabel are still with him.

Not because they want to be, although they never tell him that. But it would be all right; Stan knows they’d rather be home with their parents, not with the grand uncle who brought all this misery on them. But Bill’s magic has sealed them into Gravity Falls, probably for the rest of their lives. It’s the price they’ll have to pay for their safety, as if it wasn’t enough for them to lose Ford and their friends, and for the whole world to end. Brave kids that they are, they never complain.

Sometimes, Stan wishes that they did. It would be easier to face their anger than wonder about what’s really going on in their heads, how much of their feelings they are hiding from him.

They do their best to live their lives in the restored Shack, even though it’s more a prison than home now. Bill’s magic keeps the Shack together, their food shelves full, all of them unharmed, even by themselves. There is no pretending that their lives are just the way they used to be, but sometimes they find ways to be content, even though happiness remains out of their reach. 

Stan, for his part, needs to make sure that he never goes to the basement, never even thinks about it. When he sees that Dipper seems to have the same reaction to it, he seals the basement door for good; they are both a little more peaceful after that.

*

Stan visits the Fearamid every now and then. It becomes sort of a tribute that he does for Ford, since it serves no other purpose; neither the humans who are still around nor the monsters that are still on Earth make any attempt to approach him, and Stan is only interested in talking to the latter, hoping to negotiate with them for a chance to meet Bill. He’s always rebuffed, but that doesn’t stop him; he tries every time he runs into a monster, no matter how many times they have rejected him.

In the beginning, Mabel and Dipper try to stay awake at the Shack until he comes back, which is the main reason why he tries to keep his trips scarce; he doesn’t want them to suffer any more because of him. But he can’t stop with the trips altogether, and over time it’s only Dipper who stays up to wait for him, even though Mabel is always sure to check on him in the morning. Dipper will lean against the door, arms crossed, face serious, stand as still as a statue until Stan appears into his sight.

It surprises him, Dipper’s devotion; they haven’t always had the best relationship and given Stan’s role in the end of the world and loss of Ford, he always expects Dipper to just stop bothering with him one day. But Dipper keeps waiting on him, fussing over him whenever he comes back. As much as it confuses Stan, he comes to yearn for it.

*

One day, it takes a little longer than usual for Stan to return. Dipper runs to him the moment he spots Stan from the porch, furious.

“Where the hell have you been?” he shouts, his voice almost a growl. “I’ve been worried sick!”

“Whoa, easy,” Stan says, lifting his hands; it’s not that he fears Dipper can harm him, but Dipper loses his temper so rarely that it’s best to make sure _Stan_ doesn’t accidentally harm Dipper. “I ran into some looters in the town. I needed to talk them down from robbing me, then I had to make sure they weren’t following me.”

“Oh my gosh,” Dipper says, all anger immediately fading from his eyes; he looks Stan up and down, reaching up to touch his arms. “Are you okay?”

“I said I talked them down, didn’t I?” Stan smiles, putting his hand on Dipper’s shoulder. “Let’s go inside.”

They don’t, not immediately. Instead, Dipper throws himself against Stan, wrapping his arms around him; Stan goes still when Dipper’s face nuzzles against his chest, when his palms press up against his back. But he finds himself embracing Dipper right back, wrapping his arms around Dipper’s slight figure, leaning down to push his nose into Dipper’s hair.

“You idiot,” Dipper whispers, squeezing Stan closer to him. “Why do you have to keep doing this? Do we have to lose you too?”

Damn it if that doesn’t stab Stan right in the heart.

“You won’t.” He cups Dipper’s face with both hands, lifts it up a little so they’re looking each other in the eye. Dipper looks at him like he doesn’t believe him, which hurts because he knows he hasn’t given Dipper many reasons to do so. “You won’t be getting rid of me, ever. Sorry, but that’s just how it is.”

When Dipper doesn’t answer, Stan has one moment to wonder whether he was just dismissive instead of reassuring when Dipper rises onto his toes, his arms lifting up around Stan’s neck as he presses his mouth against Stan’s. Stan has another moment to decide whether to pull Dipper’s arms gently off or step away himself; he goes for the third option, kissing Dipper back.

*

Next time he’s scheduled to go to the Fearamid, Dipper asks him to stay with him instead.

Stan does.


End file.
